Second Symposium of the Soil Ecosystem Research Group

Second Symposium of the Soil Ecosystem Research Group

The second Soil Health Workshop was held at the XVIII ESSA Congress in Potchefstroom, South Africa. The workshop was preceded by eight fascinating talks addressing different aspects of the soil ecosystem, including soil fauna, soil processes and soil health.

The workshop itself was an open discussion centred around integrative sampling and funding proposals (led by Schalk Louw), and a brain storming session on “What is soil health?” facilitated by Ruan Veldtman (SANBI) and Matthew Addison (Stellenbosch University) to identify further funding opportunities and plan for collaborative soil research. An important outcome of the meeting was the decision to produce a review paper on the current state of knowledge of South Africa’s soil fauna (coordinated by Charlene Janion-Scheepers).

Important conceptual strides in understanding soil health were made at this workshop leading to these two publications: